Koi
"From here on out, you are now all officially stronger than Fujiko of the Ikoi Clan! From here on out, each step you take will be ones of strength." Koi-Koi is a Ex-Player turned Reaper from Week 11 of The Reaper's Game. A gambler and pugilist by heart, she's gained notoriety for her love of terrorizing Players and even some Reapers alike while holding a heart that desires everyone to grow strong. Appearance Koi-Koi dyes her hair a light brown and lets it go down to just her shoulders, often tying it into a ponytail when she starts playing a game. She prefers wearing jeans, t-shirt, and a vest with an open jacket/hoodie. Her expression is usually between various extremes of annoyed bored and a maniacal competitive smile. As the week's gone on, she's abandoned her hoodie and gone for a more bartender-esque style, keeping her hair down and longer while wearing a dress shirt with a vest and slacks. After week 11, Koi redid her entire outfit to match the more in fashion punk styles. She would also dye her hair red and tie it in a ponytail, making her nearly completely indistinguishable from her old appearance in the previous game. 　　 Koi's wings would also evolve over time. While the outer frame is still solid, the rest of her wings grew to become more like threads and became net-like. She can actually now use them to hold pins and hanafuda cards! With this, all she has to do to summon noise or attack is to flap her wings.　　 Another note for Koi’s wings is that they don’t fold back neatly like how normal bat wings would. Instead, the inner part folds in half and back, but the outer part still sticks out with the netting. This causes the wings to protrude from Koi’s back like fish fins, following her koi fish motif. Personality Koi-Koi is usually if not always bored. The Reaper's Game to her is largely pointless, as she feels coming back to life only results in people dying again anyways, so therefore returning to life and being erased are just two paths to the same end. On the other hand, she believes in the idea of a "Meaningful Death" that transcends a "Pointless Life", and that people who can fight and make their life have meaning for others. That sort of life, she claims, is the only true meaning of life. Her ideas of the individual's push towards life, as well as her obsession with games and gambling as a whole, has lead to a very violent nature from Koi. Several incidents have occurred where she pushes and prods Players to see how far they'll snap back, to the point of physically harassing other Players. Even when reprimanded for her actions, Koi seems to pull back and excuse her behavior as "friendly banter", or "just another game". She seems to feel the entirety of the Reaper's Game's cruelties are just all in good fun, and desires to enjoy herself throughout the whole game... in her own special ways. As the week progressed, Koi slowly came to the terms that the Reaper's Game was more than just a simple game, and that the death of the other Players was something that was going to end her, one way or another. She began to talk more with the others beyond insults and intimidation, trying to reach out to other players and help them fight through the ever so depressing environments they were pitted against. Even after ascending to Reaperdom, Koi refused to back down on her ideals that both Players and Reapers were powerful, and that both sides deserved respect and honor. Even when the chances of victory remain close to nothing. She's still incredibly loudmouthed and, perhaps due to associating with Sayoko and Aisu, sometimes doesn't think clearly before talking, has proven to have more intellect and insight than the others despite only having played the Game for such a short time. She seems to have captured the attention and respect of several of her superiors... despite her incredibly violent tendencies and preferences for friendly fire and her often overly exerted spirit. Her entry fee was her smartphone, which she used to play mahjong and hanafuda online. With these online games she would find comfort in a small group of online friends, while at the same time rejected the presence of other people. She wanted to come back to life because she had only just finally gotten to college and got the chance to live away from her parents before dying. History Pre-Game Ikoi gives little history regarding her childhood and parents, but has noted that she was an illegal mahjong gambler in her previous life. As a hustler, she earned money by swindling people with her innocent appearance and young age. All the money, however, would be taken in order to pay off her family's debts. She grew sick of this life and decided in college she would leave her house and live in a college dorm and try to live a new life as a professional mahjong player, rather than a gambler. The people that were collecting the family's debt, however, would quickly see otherwise... Week 11 At first Ikoi remained confused as to why she was still alive, but quickly gathered that she was dead and had been given a chance to play a game where "the supernatural play with their lives on the stakes". Originally silent and confused, she quickly became excited as she found more and more people that would be joining her to play, as well as learn more about the enigmatic Reapers that seemed to be certain of her death. She quickly began to antagonize basically everyone, going as far as to physically abuse other Players and terrorize them. Despite this, Koi managed to obtain a partner and a rival as the games began. While original detached from the others and only interested in clearing the requirements for the game, Koi's viewpoint of the world would quickly deteriorate as she saw her fellow Player's and even some of the Reaper's reactions to the erasure of Odin and Holly. Koi believed that the low morale of the Players as a whole would prevent them from growing, and helped the group as a whole, as well as certain Reapers that she had spoken to, overcome their fear of erasure and learn to respect, but move on from their comrade's deaths in order to clear the game. Unfortunately between this drive and her own neglect to pay attention to her strength, she was quickly targeted by Reapers by the middle of Day 3. Even when her partner Shi perished, Koi's final speech as a Player encouraged others to not see her death as a weakening of the group, but as a sign that they were growing ever stronger with each day. She promised her comrades that even after death, she would be following them and told the others to give the Game Master hell for what he did to her. Her last comments regarding following the Players would quickly become true, however, as the Conductor approached Koi after her speech and offered for her yet another chance to live... in the form of Reaperdom. After consideration, Koi decided that there was much more she could still do for the other Players and took V's offer, ascending to become a Support Reaper for the rest of the game. She eagerly looked forward to taking this role to continue helping and watching over the Players and even some of the Reapers she had befriended, especially her rival Aisu. Unfortunately, Aisu's partner would perish soon afterwards, and with a bit of persuasion from Koi, the two of them would become the newest additions to the Reaper force. From here she kept a close eye on the other Players and monitored battles as she could, doing what little things she could to keep Players moving forwards and avoid being distracted by the tragedies of erasure. KoiKoi found herself becoming more and more accustomed to the life of Reapers, and more excited for the aspect of being able to directly challenge Players head on to encourage their strength rather than simply playing cheerleader more and more exciting. By the end of Day 5, however, Koi was given a blunt reminder of the cruel reality regarding the roles of a Harrier: They must kill to live. Someone has to be sacrificed for the strength of the whole group. And even sometimes, as Koi found herself thinking when watching the ruthless battles with the Mammoth Noise, Players cannot be treated too easily if they want to succeed in the end... Even if it means that several people perish. Though Koi consistently objected, stating that the nature of such a bloody elimination would be more detrimental to the purpose of the Reaper's Game than her ideas of the Game, there began to form a natural break between her and some of the more battle hardened Officers. During day 5, she would be one of the Players to verbally chastise Kin as well as nearly maul Eliot for both of their behaviors during the attempted erasure of James and Lion. This, along with several other attacks by Sonata, Pippin, and Calanthe, created a small schism between the Reapers that was quickly judged very harshly by V. Despite this, Koi continued to press the idea that a Player deserves to have some form of honor in their deaths, even when it was inevitable for the Players to win. Though Koi would have to accept that the nature of death in the Reaper's Game was inevitable and has to exist in order to allow growth, Koi refused the idea of having a cruel death. She would eventually state that even in their end, a Player should be allowed to die with honor in their souls, and have that content heart before facing erasure. Though she was chastised for being a simple inexperienced support reaper with no understanding of the urgency that Harriers have, Koi would gain respect and a connection to Kin and Eliot. Koi was seen before the mission for day 6, but quickly would have to leave and was unavailable for most of the mission. She would eventually return to reveal why she was gone: KoiKoi had decided to make use of her RG life as a Reaper to enroll in a local mahjong tournament in hopes of recognizing her true dream as a mahjong professional. When she returned, however, she would find that the rest of the group had found the body of Akemi, Ethan's realground sweetheart. Koi would do her best to warn the other players, and began to question a little more about the role of Reapers in a game such as this, and why "failures" such as her were chosen to become Reapers. By day 7, Koi had high hopes for the group, and prepared eagerly for the return of her remaining former companions's victories. Despite the constant threats that happened and the lack of faith among the Reapers for the Player's victories, Koi kept faith that the Players that she knew and loved would pull through victoriously. She tried her best to keep the other Reapers calm, but found herself falling deeper into the idea that the week would end in full erasure. Upon seeing Ethan's change of heart near the end of the battle, Koi would go into a constant whoop of cheering and celebrations for the Player's victory. During the final celebrations, however, Koi would find a constant sting in the back of her heart: Jealousy that not only was she not one of the few that would be able to escape the game, but also that two other people had been qualified for something known only as Ascension... a concept that enraptured her mind. Though the Week was over, Koi's life as both a professional player and a Reaper was about to begin. She decided she would follow in the footsteps of Eliot and such to become a Harrier so she could fully understand the position Reapers were in, try to understand what reasons Reapers have for living, and discover what "Ascension" for a Reaper could be... if such a thing were even possible. Relationships Hiromi Umi/Aisu Aisu is Koi's mutual rival. At first Aisu, a maid who wants to avoid direct confrontation and remains icy aloof, seemed to be the complete opposite of Koi, the louder and more fiery trigger-tempered gambler. As they continued to butt heads however, it became clear that they both had a similar view on life and how to go about the Reaper's Game. Koi sees Aisu as the best entertainment the game's offered yet, and loves the little "games" they play together. She's ultimately confused by Aisu's motives for staying with Koi, and the odd motions of affection the maid continuously pushes. Eventually the two would even get "married" unofficially, though Koi by now has long abandoned trying to deny it, and has even started referring to Aisu as her wife. They would both become Reapers on the same day, and from henceforth became a sort of odd pair. Koi was fully eager to take on the side of the Reapers, while Aisu continued to hold guilt towards letting Sasha die, as well as failing to activate her failsafe plan for giving her items to Koi. Though Koi continuously objects to Aisu's continued desire to simply fulfill Sasha's wish before expiring, Koi begrudgingly agrees to let Aisu have free control of her own life. Deep inside, Koi's afraid that Aisu would leave her and become too obsessed with the deaths of the past. She hopes that Aisu will grow up to become more independent and more confident in her own life as a Reaper. Jean The first officer Koi met, the two originally fell on rocky ground. Koi didn't care about the wellbeing of the other Players or even Reapers, seeing each other as merely fellow competitors/partners-in-crime in a survival game. Jean on the other hand, was aspiring to see that Players with the potential to grow would become strong enough to survive. As Koi would see the effects of the Player's deaths on Jean, as well as a few battles with Jean himself, Koi began to understand Jean's perspective and would reach her hand out to try and encourage Jean to fight on just as she would. Even when Koi died the next day, it would be with Jean's influence that Koi returns to the UG... as a Reaper. The two would stay close together as the day went on, talking to each other about their pasts, their worries about their jobs, and the problems they face on a day to day basis. Koi, depressed by seeing her "mentor's" state of mind, would be one of the many people later on to try and encourage Jean away from self-erasure. Koi sees Jean as one of her only true personal superiors, and probably as her role model. Shi Shi is the partner of KoiKoi. The two remain fairly distant from each other, as Koi's continuously energetic nature contradicts Shi's more hesitant and frightened nature. Koi, however, sees strength within Shi from the battles they've shared, and treats Shi like a younger sibling to protect and strengthen. She was the one that presented Shi the idea of circumventing the Entry Fee by trusting what they "Know" rather than what they "Feel". In the end, it would be Shi's strategy that let the two survive until their final moments, where Shi took the last hit. 　 Even after Shi's death, Koi thinks back to whether she had done a good job as both a Partner and a supporter for her friends. She blames herself for Shi's death, but puts it on herself to see to it that every Player doesn't perish in cowardice, but with bravery and strength so that even in erasure, they could perish in peace. Koi often wonders if Shi ever died in peace, and what could have been if the two had worked together better to win the Reaper's Game. 　 Eliot Eliot was one of the first reapers Koi would legitimately try to socialize with when she was wary of the idea of consorting with murderers. Though Eliot tended to be fairly grumpy and generally disliked Koi due to her... bullying... they made an agreement to have peace in exchange for flying lessons. From there, Koi would find herself oddly attached to the experienced, but still friendly and slightly compassionate Reaper. Eliot would move on to teach Koi how to play her role as a Support Reaper, and Koi would refer to Eliot affectionately as "Teach". After the events of Day 5, Koi would stand up to Eliot and demand that he treats the Players with some respect. Eventually through Koi's standard stubbornness and her resolve to see to that players have strong memories to pass away contently with, Eliot seemed to understand Koi's position, and their relationship deepened. Though the two seem to consistently have conflicting views and disagree, Koi sees Eliot as an older sibling she can rely on for comfort regarding her previous life and the guilt she carries as a failure of the Reaper's Game. Eleonore Koi's original encounter with Eleonore was when she found the latter smoking. Koi requested for a cigarette, but found that she was quickly denied. She would begin to terrorize Eleonore and introduced herself, only to find that the French lady had burned her palm with the previously lit cigarette. Koi reacted... as she naturally would. By kicking Eleonore to the ground. From then on, the two would become fairly bitter enemies. The two shared different viewpoints of the others. Eleonore saw the others as liabilities and people who would drag her down if they became too weak. Koi saw the other Players as vital companions that needed to grow alongside each other if they desired to have enough cumulative strength to fight the GM at the end of the Week. Eventually Eleonore's ruthless planning and usage of her own partner would disgust Koi to the point where the Reaper would question her ideals of giving honor to all Players. She would stay firm in her ideals, however, and decide that whatever hardships Eleonore would face from then on would be the apt breaking point that would determine whether or not she deserved honor or not. Thanks to kind words from the remaining players, Eleonore would make amends with not just her partner, but also Koi herself. The two from then on would, while distant, remain companions. When Eleonore would return to the RG, she and Koi would make a promise to meet again soon to share a smoke and some small talk. Takumi Originally Koi thought Takumi was just another oddball Reaper, offended by the idea that she was simply another "monochrome" among a group of greyscale Players. She reacted as she normally would, stating that she would become the "brightest monochrome they'd ever see". Though she wouldn't really fulfill that part, Koi and Takumi would befriend each other as fellow Reapers. Koi herself was given a pet name "Hisoku", meaning secret color, by Takumi. Near the end of the week as Takumi would grow to become more and more compassionate to Players and abandon their old Harajuku identity, Koi would continuously try to comfort them over what Reapers are... and over the erasure of Ethan. Yue They met under a similar opinions of the Reaper's Game, as merely a game. Yue would try to kill all of them while Koi would adamantly prove her wrong. As the Game progressed and their childish illusions would shatter, the two would become more and more distant as they would individually try to discover what they were meant to do. They eventually would meet on the same side and... despite some odd conflicts and fights, the two became good friends. At the end of Week 11, Yue stated that she would be leaving Shibuya to explore other Districts. Koi, deciding that what she was looking for would only be possible within the walls of Shibuya, stayed, but the two promised that they'd keep in touch. V/Kei/Seki/Kaito Asshole scented sticks in the mud. V and Seki like to punish and chastise Koi for her constant bullying of basically everyone. While their attempts are very successful, Koi finds herself rebelliously wanting to go against the ideals of death within the Reaper's Game that everyone else seems to continuously hold pessimistically. Koi finds V to be like a stern, but wise father figure. On the other hand, Kei is a constant annoyance and mystery. And for our third guest, Kaito's opinion of general Players is in near polar opposition with Koi's own faith in the Players. She hates the three's "realistic" viewpoints of the Game and dislikes how their general lack of compassion... but Koi wants to prove to these assholes that she is indeed competent and wise enough to face the burdens of Reaperdom to its fullest extents. After the end of Week 11, Koi's become more and more confused by the nature of the higher rankings, and has begun to wonder what it means to be Ascended... and more importantly, if she could still Ascend her pointless existence. Also note that Kaito's Noise form is THE epitome of adorable and should always be given snuggles. Trivia *依恋 藤子 means "Depending on Love" and "Wisteria Child". Ikoi thus, literally means "To depend on love", relating to her old life as a person relying on appealing to other people in order to survive. Wisteria refers to her ideas of durability and strength, but also means an destructive strength that must be controlled before it destroys herself. *Koi Koi is a term used in Hanafuda, a traditional Japanese card game. Upon making a full card combination, one can call either "Koi Koi" to continue, or "Stop". Depending on rules used, calling Koi koi doubles the final point total for both you and your opponent if they win. * This is also the same calling of Koi Koi used in the movie ''Summer Wars(2012). ''The writer of Fujiko is sorely disappointed in the lack of Summer Wars references in general. * Her Noise Form is Koi-Pop, an obvious giant koi fish... that also is a play on words of the music genre K-pop. Gallery W11Koi.jpg|Koi during Week 11 KoiW12.jpg|Koi's current outfit, before her wings changed KoiWings.jpg|Koi's new wings Category:Players Category:Week 11 Category:Reapers